LIFETIME ESSENTIALS

Again and Again

Acts 20:31 NIV
So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Philippians 3:18 CSB
For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

2 Peter 1:12 NLT
Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.

Saying, "I've already read the Bible from cover to cover" does not mean you already "know it all." Just like what Paul did, he NEVER stopped warning the people and teaching them the Word of God. That means people must always seek the Lord through His Word, and so continually be reminded of God's promises and His commands to live a holy and blameless life before God.

Food for Life

Remember what Jesus says:

John 4:34 NIV
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

John 6:51 NIV
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

We all know that food is a primary source of living. This is where we get all kinds of nutrients to help boost our immune system and allow us to fight against any kind of disease. The Word of God is likewise food for the body, soul and spirit.

Matthew 4:4 NIV
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Food is nourishing and much more is the food that comes from the Word of God. Food alone cannot satisfy our cravings. What God can give is much more satisfying and we can be in an overflow having more than enough. 

Grow, Grow, Grow

1 Peter 2:2 NIV
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,"

NLT says: " so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation."

A baby cannot stop drinking milk until he is ready to eat solid food. A grown child into a full adult won't stop eating until the last day of his life. Even a bedridden who no longer has the ability to eat is still being supplied with nutrients and essentials that comes from food. So it is with our salvation. We cannot experience "full salvation" if we will stop making every effort to grow by being nourished in the Word of God. If you no longer the Bible, it's like ending your life without your neck on the rope.

1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

We are intended to GROW UP. The Word of God builds us both in the natural and the supernatural. When we receive salvation, we have been given the privilege to know more of the heavenly things - God's ways, His thoughts, His plans for us that are beyond  the imaginable. Our borders are extended, so we no longer live just for the sake of existence. We need to grow in our knowledge of God, knowing more than just the surface of the Book. 

Work Out 

Philippians 2:12 ESV
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Paul reminds to "work out your own salvation". This means there should be an EFFORT. Just like planting a tree, you must do everything to grow it so that there will be a fruit at the time of harvest. Let's also be mindful that in bearing fruit, there are two conditions: a bad fruit or a good fruit. Jesus said that you cannot expect a tree to bear good fruit out of a bad tree, and a bad fruit from a good tree. NLT says: "Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear." Therefore, it is important how we live our lives as this builds our character. Whatever you do facing the mirror is what reflects on the other side of the surface.

When you dig deeper into the Bible, you can always hear God talking about CONSISTENCY. It's not enough to know Him just a little bit, but to strive to know MORE about Him so that you may be "full" of the knowledge of God. He wants us to be perfect just as He is perfect. We are still on our fragile state as a human being, and yet God reminds us that we are a work in progress. We are the clay and God is the Potter. 

 

Where Life Flows

Where the River Flows 
 
Can a river stop flowing? Can we prevent its rush? Yet wherever it flows, there is life. Trees grow green, while fishes rejoice in its abundance. We cannot control its nature.  
 

Ezekiel 47:9 CSB 

Every kind of living creature that swarms will live wherever the river flows, and there will be a huge number of fish because this water goes there. Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes. 

 
God revealed to Ezekiel the life-giving water. Water is a source of necessity. We can never refrain from it because it is our body's daily essential need. 
 
 

Never Thirst Again  

 

John 4:13-14 CSB 

Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, in the water that I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life." 
 

This is the story about the woman in the well who was drawing water. When Jesus saw her, He asked her to give him a drink. The woman was a Samaritan, who had had been a bit questioning because Jews do not associate with her people. Then Jesus told her about the living water, which to whom he will give will never get thirsty again. The woman asked Jesus for it, and then Jesus told her to go to her husband. The woman replied that she had no husband, and Jesus knew her honesty, because she didn't really have a husband, but five husbands; the one he has right that time wasn't even her husband. The Samaritan woman was greatly amazed of His prophecy about her.  

 
Jesus told her about the coming time when people will no longer worship God in the mountain, but in their hearts. The woman believed and told Jesus that she was waiting for the Messiah. Jesus revealed to Him saying, "I the one speaking to you, am he." (v. 26) 
 

Jesus is the Living Water; the life-giving water. The water that heals and restores. When we come to Him, we become satisfied from the thirst of love, peace, joy, and hope. He is the One whose grace flows down in our lives, and so we can receive it with gladness. We would not have been worthy, but He offered it with overflowing kindness to let us choose to live with Him and never thirst again.

Turn Back to Him

I Turn Back to You, Lord

When I'm in distress

I hear You calling me

Coming near to help me up

And take my hand to stand

When I try to run

Far away from You
In the dark You're always there

To be the light along my way

Then my soul swells out

Wanting to come back

Crying out I bow down

And lifted my head up

I turn back to You, Lord

Fix this heart of mine

And bring me to Your Presence

Where I see Your glory shine

Bring me to the deep

Where I only sink beneath

And find Your peace and rest

I turn back to You, Lord.

– JBL 3/21/19

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I had composed this song lyrics just this morning. I had an awful feeling last night because of the consistent failures I've got these past few days. I just kept it to myself with grief and disappointment, and refused to give the burdens to God and ask him to fix my heart. 

My head kept taunting me to sleep again. I felt so restless, but I have to prepare myself to school.

As I ate my breakfast, my heart began to ache without knowing why. I just ignored it but a little while, I already found my eyes soaked with tears. "Why, Lord?" I whispered. Giving grace for the breakfast was not enough. Even the healthy and delicious meal didn't give me the strength to get back up. I must talk to Him and pour out the hurt. From this aching heart came the call to remember that failure deceit but God's truth is peace.

When I remembered His love, I knew that I could never really run away, because nothing can separate me from my first love. "Lord, I'm sorry..." I cried out. 

Then I began to be filled with words of melody...

As Life Blooms

Bloom and Bear Fruit

Flowers can either grow in water or soil. Such as in fruit bearing trees on the soil, flowers are being found. Flowers are distinguished through its tree. When the leaves grow, flowers begin to bud, and sooner comes its bloom with the fruit it produce. Like flowers, we bloom to produce fruit, and it can either be a good or  a bad fruit. 

'Water Blossoms'

Lilies grow in the bodies of water, usually by the ditches, ponds and swamps, where the water is stagnant. Only the lilies have decorated the unadorned place. In spite of the unpleasantness of its atmosphere, the spot itself still have beauty in it because of the lilies that had covered around. Water which is their home has displayed its elegance.

Flowers Fade But the Word Endures

1 Peter 1:24- 25 CSB

For all flesh is like grass, and its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

We too are like flowers. We flourish, showing off our beauty and radiance. But just like flowers, we pass away. As a jasmine's fragrance goes out, so we are. Just like the roses, we only have a small span of time to cherish every moment in our lives. But unlike the flowers, the beauty of the Lord never fades. It is always fresh and in abundance. We cannot truly rely on the beauty that is fleeting, but on the foundation of beauty in all creation.

Let Life Bloom

Hosea 14:5-7 ESV

I will be like the dew to Israel;

He shall blossom like the lily;

He shall take roots like the trees of Lebanon;

His shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

When we return to our Creator, He makes our life bloom like the lilies in the midst of this filthy world. We are to bloom in the love of Christ for it is always fresh and bountiful, same as the beauty of the lilies. His love is timeless. When we live in Him, we will have the blossom that will never fade away.

Sing in Love

A Love Song of Praise

(Verse 1)

The Lord is my shepherd

I shall not be in want

Be leads me beside quiet waters

Restoring my soul

(Pre-Chorus 1)

So I sing in His Presence

Where His Spirit overflows

Here I stand amazed by His Grace

(Chorus)

My heart is singing a love song

For the glory of the Lord

My lips can't stop praising His Name

For all His goodness and wonders

In His Presence I remain

My heart is singing a love song of praise

(Verse 2)

Even in the darkest valley

His Spirit is within me

I will fear no evil

For in His love I'm secured

(Pre-Chorus)

So I sing in His Presence

Where His Spirit overflows

Forever I'm amazed by His Grace

– JBL 2018

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This is a love song that I dedicated to the Lord. Just like what David said in Psalm 23, the Lord is our Shephered, whom we will not lack anything. He is the giver of life, love, peace, rest, joy, protection, and prosperity. Everything that He has done is more than enough to make us feel loved and be in love with Him more and more. He is the song that I sing, the rhythm that makes my heart beat, and the melody that makes my life flow in harmony. I rejoice in Him forever, for he is the reason I have found LOVE.

Heaven and Earth Proclaim

Can You?

Can you count the stars?

Can you measure the skies?

Can you see the sun,

And gaze at it for long?

Can you swim to the deepest seas,

Down the dark where life exists?

Creatures that are yet unknown

Remain covered down below.

Can you make the river stop flowing?

Or prevent the trees from growing?

Can you stop the flowers from budding

And keep the wind from blowing?

Can you fly above the heavens

And see everything under the sun?

Can your feet walk through the waters

Can your hand touch the stars?

Can you reach the highest mountain

And live where there is no rain?

Can you live a life without troubles

And endure without pain?

Who can comprehend everything?

All creation is entirely amazing

But lies in the mystery of time and measure

There is more than what to be called a hidden treasure.

No one can carry all the glory

For it belongs to the One who is worthy

More than enough is to behold the Creator

Who is the life giver, who restores, and reigns forever.

- JBL 2019

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No Voice But Speaks

The vastness of space is too much to comprehend. We can be intelligent people, but we are not perfect enough to know everything. The whole universe bear witness of a beautiful creation. There is so much more to marvel than the 'Big Bang' and the other theories that were made. 

Psalm 19:1-4 NLT

¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

The skies display his craftsmanship.

² Day after day they continue to speak;

night after night they make him known.

³ They speak without sound or word;

their voice is never heard.

⁴ Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,

and their words to all the world.

If people do not give praise to God, how about the things that are mute and don't even have life? "The heavens proclaim of the glory of God." Creation itself speaks of a perfect and unique design which nothing and no one could understand, apart from those whom it had been revealed. They speak through its beauty and wonder and declare of a Wise Creator.

Immeasurable

Science has discovered that there are stars that are greater than the Sun, higher in temperature and bigger in size. Imagine yourself being the smallest body among the bodies beyond. The Earth is bigger than the moon; the Sun is bigger than the earth; other stars are bigger than the Sun, and are double, triple or quadruple in size! We are just a tiny thing for them, but we as humans has been made precious to the living God, our Creator. What He created is beyond measure. Numbers are infinite, just as we cannot count all of God's goodness in our lives since the world began. We can only enjoy and endure – and ensure that our Creator has a beautiful plan set before us. We can only look forward to it as we put our hopes in Him. Just as how numerous are the stars in the night sky, so is His love for us that will always shine.

The Weak: "I Am Strong"; The Poor: " I Am Rich"

"Give Thanks" by Don Moen

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the holy one
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ His Son

And now, let the weak say, "I am strong!"
Let the poor say, "I am rich!"
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks...


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Our Strength and Riches

We have heard of this song sung in churches. I have learned of it when I was eight years old. But it is so amazing to realize that this song meant a lot to everybody. Who can imagine in a situation while you are weak, you are strong? The same as when you are poor, you are rich? Many of us may see it only with appearance. When we see the sick or frail, we might judge them as weak people. When we see the beggar by the roadside, it could be obvious to call him poor. But Jesus came to this world not because of the strong or the rich in spirit.

He came for us to be our Lord and Savior. He came for our healing and restoration, just as a doctor comes to heal the sick and not the well. In Christ, we can say "I am strong!" because He is our strength, the One who lifts our head up, and the One who give us victory in the battle. In Christ, we can say, "I am rich!" because He is our treasure; He is our prosperity. He has all the riches of the heaveb and earth, and He is more than enough! So why not accept your real destiny? We are not meant to live in poverty and weakness forever. We are meant to live in abundance in the Lord, who will provide for us. He is our strength, and He is our prosperity.

Run the Race

Victorious Gain

Isaiah 40:30-31 ESV

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall and be exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Truly, the righteous gain victory in the Lord. Young people have been great in winning. We have always heard that "the youth is the key to success," because we have the power to voice out for our community, and make a 'change'. Most have the full strength to fight in the battle. But of course, there are times when we get exhausted through our labors. Some might give up and keep their loss, while some are still eager to keep fighting to achieve their goal. And yet, the Scripture says that those "who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength," and they are the ones who gain true victory. 

Race of Faith

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul tells us about pressing towards goal that it doesn't mean he already achieved perfection, but that he is pursuing it for it is what God wants us to be. We are CALLED to be perfect. We can only achieve it if we forget the past and move ahead. We won't be able to run straight forward if we keep looking back as it will only make us stumble. God wants us to walk in a straight line that leads only to His kingdom.

Reaching for the Prize

What can we do with the awards in this world? When we are gone, we can soon be forgotten. All our hardships are only for an earthly lifetime but we cannot take hold of it forever. There is the race where we can run without losing. It is the race of faith. This is the race where we fight in TRUST for the Lord. This is not just to the get to the finish line, but for the eternal line, the line that is forever in the love of Christ. We are "more than conquerors in Christ" because He Himself is the Lord of the Battle. He will fight for us as we put our trust in Him. He wants us to "lay aside every weight," and let Him carry our burdens. Together with this is to break the bondage of sin, and let our focus be on running with endurance towards the heavenly goal. 

Hebrews 12:1

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings to us closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,..."

My First Love

"First Love Never Dies"

They say, "First love never dies." For earthly lovers, they usually say that when they experience affection towards each other for the first time, and later on become joined as one after years of courtship. But some say the opposite because of their heartbreak on the first person whom they gave their time and effort with. There usually comes the "Love is blind," giving the meaning of love as something that is experienced without discerning right and wrong about the relationship. But why the bottom line is TRUE? Who really is our FIRST LOVE?


The One Who Loved Us First

1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we love God, but that He first loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Who is the FIRST One who gave LOVE? He is God. He Himself is Love. It is His character, and He is the ultimate giver of life and LOVE. He is our First Love. Even though we are so hard-headed, committing intolerable sins, He still loves us because it is who He is. Instead of us being punished, He sent His Son, Jesus as a sacrifice on the cross because of His love.


The Destroyer of Love

He created the world out of LOVE, saying that "It is good," (Genesis 1) and so we are GOOD in the sight of God as humans who are created in His image. But because of sin, we became separated from Him because it is against LOVE. The cunning devil made his scheme to take away the beloved possession of God through deception. And out of human's disobedience to God (and believing the devil instead), we have been cut off from His sight, the reason why we can't see Him face to face. God is so Holy that He cannot take sight of our sin. We were banished from His presence, and death came to us. Until Jesus came into the world, the devil had always taken the opportunity to be the "thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy" (John 10:10).


Love Has Overcome

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

This verse has been so familiar to people around the nation. We can hear this in churches, hymns and can even be seen on someone's doorpost. But this verse gave a lot of interpretation to many religious sects. Many have memorized it but never knew its perfect meaning, or even experience what it is. Jesus is the One who made a way for our redemption, and to bring us back to a relationship with God. Through Him, death was defeated. Sin may still be in people's lives, but God is GREATER. His love has conquered sin. And yet, we cannot inherit this eternal life unless we humbly come to Him to surrender all our sins, and ACCEPT Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives.


His Love Endures Forever

Jesus is "the same today, yesterday and forever." People ans the world will change, but His love remains the same. He is the Eternal Life whom we have hope for. Who He is in the beginning, He still is and will still be. Even when we become faithless, He is still faithful. He really does what He has promised. He loves us so much, that all He wants is the best for us, just as He is our Father. We can never be good enough to God, but He who is GOOD is more than enough to supply for all our needs. We don't have to inherit His Kingdom through our works, because His GRACE is sufficient for our salvation. We must look forward to pursuing the heavenly which are eternal, than the things in this world that is just temporal. And as He gave His life for me, I recognize Jesus as my hope, my strength, my Lord and Savior, and my FIRST LOVE.

Run Back into His Love

 Fall But Rise Again

For how many times I do forget that God is faithful? For how many times I tried to run away from Him? When I face trials, I seem to be knocked down. But still, my Lord reminds me that I am "more than a conqueror in Christ". He fought the grave for me, to save me and bring me back into His love.

Proverbs 24:16 ESV

For the righteous falls seven times and rises again,

but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

God has declared His chosen people to be righteous in His sight through the redemption in Jesus Christ. And therefore, as chosen ones, we might fall on life's road, but we can still stand firm with our faith in God.


Heart Fixer

There were times that I became hateful of myself when I've had extreme failures. Being distressed, I made my heart harden like a rock. I would grit my teeth and distort my face in a way that my brows are fixed in a brusque demeanor. I was like a fool. There shouldn't have been any of these acts but I was putting myself down. Moments later, I would ask myself why I'm having those attitudes. I would try to discern it and understand what should I really act. But unless there is the wisdom and the presence of God, I wouldn't be able to make things right. I felt that the Spirit is in control of me, because even if I turn away from Him, He is around me, and so when I turn back, it is still Him who will approach me. God fixes my heart because He is my Healer. When I hear Him again speak from His Word, I am reminded that I'm loved. He will always welcome me when I run back into His love. Even if I stumble, He will catch me and will never let me fall. I might run anywhere but Jesus will still be there, and better is life with Him than a thousand elsewhere.